Rookies to Legends

A while back I decided to abandon ship on my goal to complete the 2012 Bowman Chrome set. I really do enjoy the set, but the cards are a bit too pricey for me and I am not the biggest prospect collector.

While going through all of the cards I do currently have for 2012 Bowman Chrome, I ran across a few that stood out.

This Bryce Harper RC was sitting inside the box, begging to be placed into my Harper binder. I obliged as this may be my favorite Harper card in my possession. Something about that RC symbol really makes cards pop.

The card got me thinking about the long, successful careers that many stars had. Nowadays, players garner insane amounts of hype when they are still in high school. Sports Illustrated, ESPN and numerous other media outlets are quick to place the "phenom" sticker on a player before they even are able to drive. I don't know if I could handle the attention these guys do when I was in high school. Hell, I was afraid to speak in front of class just in case my voice broke.

Current Hall of Famers probably turned some heads back in their day, but the hoopla surrounding them was far less than what we see today.

Of course, Major League Baseball is a huge league with hundreds of players, and it has been around for a very long time. We all know the greats (Ruth, Mantle, Williams, Mays), but there are some greats (Campanella, Sutton, Drysdale) that don't seem to gather as much attention these days. You may have noticed I singled out the Dodgers when referring to the players that don't seem to get as much attention, and for good reason.

History plays a huge role in baseball, and I wanted to learn more about the Dodgers history in a fun way. That's I decided a few weeks back to start my own Hall of Fame, solely for Dodgers.

In that post, I inducted two of the all-time greats in Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax to my little HOF. I also indicated that I would ask for help in deciding who gets inducted. Well the time has finally come to cast your first votes for the Chavez Ravining HOF.

I mentioned in that initial post that I would nominate 5 players every month and let you sort them out, but I am going to drop that number to 3. Leave a comment with the player you would like to vote for.

Voting ends at the end of June

Requirements:

• The players must have played at least 5 years for the Dodgers (Brooklyn or Los Angeles)
• No active players are allowed into the HOF
• Players must be at least 5 years removed from playing
• I must have at least 1 card of the player
• Announcers/Players/Coaches that are still apart of the organization, but no longer an active player are eligible. ex. Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda are eligible. Don Mattingly is not. 

Steve Garvey 1B/3B (1969-1982)
Career Stats: .294/.329/.446, 2599 Hits, 272 Home Runs, 1308 RBI's, 37.8 WAR
Career Achievements:1974 NL MVP, 10x All-Star, 4 Golden Gloves

Vin Scully PA (1950-Present)
Career Achievements: Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy Award, Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997, American Sportscasters Association’s Hall of Fame in 1992

Tommy Lasorda M/P (1949-Present)

Career Achievements: 2x World Series Champion ('81 and '88), 2x Manager of the Year ('83 and '88), Olympic Gold Medalist Manager

I realize that only one of these guys was truly a player, but the Chavez Ravining HOF will include non-players as well. 

Simple cast your vote in the comments, and feel free to share any stories you have about that particular player/coach. You can vote until the end of the month, and I will announce the newest member of the HOF sometime in the first week of June. 

Trade With Foul Bunt: Dodger Hullaballoza

I completed my first trade with William of Foul Bunt fame this weekend. I think I approached him about some cards I was interested in, and here we are today. 

Before getting into the cards William sent over, if anybody is interested in any 1987 Topps cards get in touch with William. He has a ton he is looking to move. 

I'll start out with the $215 million-dollar man, Clayton Kershaw. 

Both are new cards to my Kershaw PC, and both are very much appreciated. William also sent over a couple more Kershaw's that I already had, though I know a few Dodger fans that may appreciate them.

It has been a while since Matt Kemp has had a career day. He has not consistently been able to stay on the field since the beginning of the 2012 season. Both cards are new additions to my Bison PC, which is now pushing 100 cards. I will update my PC with Kemp's TC parallels today, so depending on when you look at it, you may see a different total. 

William also sent over some colorful parallels from Topps Flagship. All of these are brand new to me, and the Jerry Sands is the first card I have of the former top prospect. He has fallen off the face of the earth since he was included in the Nick Punto trade, though I hope he can pick it back up and have a nice career. 

Topps had some great insert sets in 2013, including these thick Elite cards. It's always a good day when I can add two of the best Dodgers of all-time to the collection. I"m thinking I need a Dodger HOF binder, but I will have to get some more cards to justify that. 

This is probably my favorite card to come out of 2013 Topps Flagship. I absolutely love Koufax cards, and sticking him on one of the cooler cards from 2013 Topps is awesome. The blue and red really pop out and just make this a perfect card for me. I will try to add more of these in the future. 

William also sent over some Colgan's Chip Disks of some old-timey Dodgers, Wlater O'Malley, Zack Wheat, and Dizzy Vance. I honestly don't know enough about these guys as I should, do I guess a history lesson is on my to-do list. 

 If you've noticed I am getting pretty good at crooked scans! Send over some Dodger cards and I can share my knowledge of the crooked scan with you! 

William also tossed in these fantastic Cooperstown cards of some of the greatest Dodgers of all time. I'm assuming the year listed next to each player's name is the year they were inducted in to the HOF, but I am too lazy to look it up. The Campanella shin guards card is pretty cool, as is the championship ticket card. 

IMO, this is the best card William sent over. In fact, it may be the best Dodger card ever produced. Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Duke Snider are great, but Vin Scully is Vin Scully. He is the definition of great. I don't know how this card eluded me for so long, but it is finally in my hands now. I am now anxiously waiting to hear Vin announce the greatest five words in the English language, "It's Time for Dodger Baseball!".

Thanks again William. Hope we can do this again soon!